


Working Parts (Wish)

by blindtaleteller



Series: Platovember Prompts 2020 [5]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Damaged, Gen, Healing, Lokiverse - Freeform, Mixology (Lokiverse), Platovember 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-05
Updated: 2020-11-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:54:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27409144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blindtaleteller/pseuds/blindtaleteller
Summary: The rare and early peek into DAMAGED [Book 4], aka Gin's universe, Door 5 in the Lokiverse. Stephen Strange watches a particularly tense session of Loki's court in Chicago from a very odd perspective, and manages to shift his own in the process when someone unexpected 'steps' in to support the Fourth King..Quick Warning: this particular part of the conjoined AU that is Mixology/Lokiverse is VERY different from the canon MCU. As you read and pick up some of what happened differently in this universe, you definitely will pick up how that happened.
Relationships: platonic - Relationship
Series: Platovember Prompts 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999015
Kudos: 10
Collections: Loki, Platonic Relationships, Prompted Writing





	Working Parts (Wish)

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5 of the Platovember 2020 prompt and series.
> 
> Maybe it's the number that had those particular muses jumping up to snag this one...  
> \-- PS -- I blame my Tony and Strange muses especially for this one: but it was a LOT of fun to write, and a scene I only drafted from Bucky and Scar's points of view. That .. may change though, after writing this. because I actually like it that much.
> 
> Wanna know more, see what kind of crazy inspires me or just follow my nuttery around tumblr? You can find me, and the original prompt post here:  
> https://blindtaleteller.tumblr.com/search/platovember

  * IDENTIFY LOCATION: INHERITOR - INTER-DIMENSIONAL IDENTIFICATION CONFIRMED : HVRA0616-9H-05
  * \---INTER-UNIVERSAL DOORWAY ENTRY POINT H5 : OBSERVATIONAL STATUS - TVA INTERFERENCE: _NOT DETECTED_
  * \----MIDGARD NORTHERN HEMISPHERE : NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT : METROPOLITAN AREA DETECTED - VISITATION CAUTIONS _RECOMMENDED_ : CHICAGO, ILLINIOS
  * \------KNOWN DOMESTIC TIME VARIANCE : 9:34 AM US CST



\--=\Working Parts/=--

Watching even the normal parts of court from anywhere in the still new North-Eastern American Kingdom, had never really appealed to Stephen, even before one of the men currently on screen had destroyed his hands in a fit of rage, exasperation and hatred for the man on the Throne the likes of which Stephen still to this day could not fully comprehend, or really want to in truth. But living there now on said King's side of the royal ..building; in recovery, or as much of it as he could manage; had changed a lot of things. He'd already been curious. He'd already been grateful to some extent for the disowned former prince of Asgard, after being among those he and Stark had managed to save in particular during Black Thursday.

But there was something he had missed in not watching what of his court was televised on a daily basis. And _more yet_ Stephen was still discovering about Loki, and how he and what very few _true_ supporters he had managed to keep, kept the momentum in a forward motion of growth as Stephen's now unique position within the royal household allowed him to see it.

He knew Stark was watching from his mobile hospital bed, in the other room. Stephen could see him from there, cranked up as close to a sitting position as the techno-genius' spine would allow him to, without putting too much strain on his persistently problematic and painful spinal column. Head tuned into the argument, mind snapped in on what was going on yards away through the extra security, padded up frosted resin glass that hid him from most others' eyes and attention, and Loki's personal space on the black side of this floor of the remodeled and constantly upgraded Sears Tower. Behind his door, off the chessboard red and black tile that made up the floor of Loki's Throne Room as he knew it was even without having a choice of birds eye and other views having been let in and taken up as one of those Loki protected. Stark was perhaps even more tuned in than Strange was.

More aware. Because he had been doing this from the very beginning, hadn't he?

And it made Stephen glance to his hands, shaking in place over his knee and at the desk top as they were; fresh out of the fixators that had been the best they could do after he'd chosen to block Rogers' attempt at smashing the King over the head with a partially glass cabinet.

Even in that horrifically broken physical state, even worse off than Stephen was physically; even knowing his current state might not be reversible or able to be improved upon at all, ever: even hiding that state behind his pride, and all that security and all that tech? Tony Stark was still tuned in and in working order in all the other places that mattered. Still present in ways that counted. And reminding Strange why his other moniker was so accurate, and so underplayed all at once, as Iron Man.

Maybe that's why it wasn't too surprising, when he caught the tiniest of motions on the screens; and recognized the little drone for what it was. Why it only pulled Strange's posture straighter and had Stephen turning up the volume when that image flickered as it always did when caught on camera and looked between them with his hands in suit pockets that his current self couldn't wear without some seriously extremely careful maneuvering if it was possible at all, and Tony's holographic projection stepped onto the screen.

" _Yeah, **hi;**_ and in case you guys haven't guessed: this is one of those rare points where I actually 'step in' _\--pardon the shitty pun--_ and first and foremost, Steve? Tell you _not_ to use my name in vain, lest you summon me from the depths of the black side of the palace. " Stephen heard someone snort, and he would guess it was one of the two, almost identical metal armed men standing a little lower down on the dais next to Loki's throne. " Especially, like _that._ " Probably the masked one that called himself Wolfkin. He still did not entirely get how there were two of Bucky Barnes in the world; but he was grateful enough for them himself to know he didn't really care.

" Let me explain this to you one more time; since you seem to have been too hopped up on your own opinions and mental fuckery to get it when Lo tried to tell you last time you were anywhere near the Capital, or this tower, never mind the Throne room as it stands. From a slightly more personal view this time, since I'm actually conscious to say as much to you. " The bite in Tony's words and expressions carried across pretty well on the screen. Just a glance told Stephen that, he would have to call Adeline and Riggs in soon though if he got much more worked up. Tony was livid. " Allow me to be a proper asshat too, and make sure you understand, why so many humans from this side of the continent keep trying to join the fighting you insist on keeping up in the allotted neutral zones too while I'm at it. Don't you _**ever,**_ attempt to use my current medical status against the man and current ruling regime on the upper east side of this fucking continent against him, or the institution in place; again. You especially, after that last visit; crippling a surgeon trying to help me and others out there survive? At least with a little less pain? Fuck you, man; let me just get _that_ out there. "

" Tony; right now, you need-- " was Fury trying to calm Tony's very agitated emotional state.

" **No.** " hard, firm; and cranked up on the volume enough with a stomp of his holographic foot out there, and Stark had the floor without contest. Loki sat back on an elongated sigh and brief access to his wrist console that, Stephen already knew was the cold King's quiet check on Stark's heart rate. " You wanna bitch, about how he _hid_ me? Look here, _not_ there. You wanna complain, and _whine,_ and throw a fit like a little _four year old_ about how my _private medical files_ and business in this goddamned state pisses **you** off and maybe would have changed things; look fucking here, _at **me.**_ You wanna _try_ and schlep off the responsibility of all that, and barbecue _him_ on the spot for doing _exactly_ what I asked of him , when I asked him to do it? _Regardless_ of the personal and political consequences; because he _has my fucking back_ like that, _respects me_ and _my privacy_ like that? The whole lot of you can _look right **fucking** here:_ and you _tell me_ I didn't have the right to ask. _**You** tell **me** ,_ I shouldn't have asked for it. You tell me, I didn't have the god damned right, and still don't: to back him in return when he does that _not_ _**just** for me,_ but for every _otherwise_ god _and_ man-forsaken victim irradiated or otherwise out of New York. And then _you_ explain to _**me,**_ why the hell I should give you _even **two** words more_ along those goddamned lines after hearing you spit it out of your _self indulgent_ , _self **important** pretty mouth;_ knowing that the _only_ reason I, and seventy five percent of those who managed to still come out _breathing_ well enough to say otherwise after the World Defense Council _dropped a nuclear fucking missile_ in _**all** of our faces_ **_including yours_** survived, after I _myself_ failed to put it in the hole? Is sitting on that _motherfucking throne,_ still cleaning up _our_ goddamned _mess_ while _**your** side_ of the country insists on pushing the act of adding to it making that line that much goddamned bloodier from the other side! "

Stephen was watching the man running the animated program more than he was watching the screen by well.. less than halfway through. For as loud as he was over the speakers, Tony's raised voice, quick fingers and fast thumps of his fist against the arm-grip and rests of his mobile bed had actually shaken the thick windows once or twice. " Stop being a stubborn bitch. This is what we've got. And this is how we're dealing with it, if you won't. And let's face it. You're not, Steve. You pushed this dumb competition between us for Hydra's heads too, might I remind you. And before you even start in on the aggression factor between either side; maybe you ought to think about that yourself. And keep in mind my drones have been at every single fight along with his adopted kids since we picked them up. You look both the Barneses in the eye and ask them why, even clear of the first few baby steps of what Hydra did to them they're standing on his side of the red and black squares instead of yours. Ask yourself why I am, beyond the personal aspects of it all. You look at Fury, standing right next to you playing high end body guard pillar across from Barton too, and you do the same. 'Cause your inability to do so, and the inability of the leadership out of the west side to do so? That's a _huge part_ of the problem. "

Deep breath, Stephen managed a flicking glance to the screen to see Rogers' jaw working like he had a wad of gum that had hit tasteless-and-stiff status; and the elder, masked version of Bucky Barnes had taken off his mask to return to the military at-ease stance that was with his own grinding teeth staring down Rogers anything but, at ease. Stephen was watching the real Tony Stark though. Amazed and more than a little ......proud? Excited? While watching him; as that stubborn, near verbal diarrhea of a smackdown had been delivered, and managed to at least suck the rawr out of pretty much everyone else in the room. Everyone, except the King; his other consort, and the _newer_ twin bodyguard and agent they had recently snatched up out of Siberia with his far more stable carbon copy's help.

" It is what it is. " came across a lot quieter. " None of us really wanted this, but it's what we've got. And maybe not you.. but for some of us, it _is_ the best option. And the most dignified one. Whether you want to look at it that way, 'cause of how it got started, or _not._ You got, and you had your part in that too Steve. Still do. And from here on out: I'm gonna call you on it, _every time._ If we're _ever_ gonna call ourselves heroes, past _or_ present tense? We gotta do _better._ We all pick how that happens from the options we got available. Mine.. I wouldn't trade what side of the chessboard _I'm_ on, for my _life._ " a small snort and big smirk to go with it. " As made apparent by the fact Asgardian tech could, _probably_ fix me: and I haven't asked. _Not **gonna** ask;_ if it costs more for the folks here than I'm worth. _In_ this tower, _and_ outside it. And _there's_ a thought.. "

Stephen watched Tony's brows go up looking at the ceiling instead of HUD right in front of his brown eyes; the sigh of having all that off his chest something he could feel. " When you leave here without _either_ Barnes you came for; because you _are?_ Because they've _both_ made it clear as crystal to Loki and the rest of us _that's_ their decision? Why don't you take the scenic route, huh? Why don't you at least, take a stroll through one of the two hospitals and special care **_buildings_** attached to this place. Ask folks there. _Ask their families._ Ask the orphans and the widows and the rest what get no help, from _you._ "

And that was when Stephen was shocked into staring not at the side of Tony's face, but right into those honey-brown eyes when he turned his head to look right into him. " Or _if_ you have the balls: you come back here, _just one more time._ And you ask Stephen Strange. You ask the surgeon whose hands you screwed over, why _he_ stayed in Chicago when he got here. You ask _him,_ why he's back here with me now, listening to your bullshit and not interrupting a word of what I'm saying either: instead of in one of those buildings, or Michigan, _or_ Minnesota, where he _could_ be: instead of asking what specialists we've had in, _visiting **him.**_ Cause guess what. " another small but visible breath in had Stephen clinging to every word, reaching for it." Just because we're fucked up back here, half wrecked and wishing we weren't: doesn't mean we're willing to abandon our remaining, perfectly working parts to get the rest back. "

" I can't speak for the twin next to me. " chimed in from the elder Bucky, Wolfkin; as Stephen met that stare, got a broad if slightly tired smile and thumbs up from behind the heads up display Tony was still working, that shook Stephen up so much, he couldn't stop his vision from blurring. " But .. that pretty much covers it for me, Steve. I used to know a guy, who hated bullies. No matter _what_ shape they came in. "

He couldn't clearly see the way Rogers' head cocked back through the sudden bout of tears; he wasn't really watching any more. But he was listening. Reminded again, why the damaged metal armed twins who had knocked Rogers down and put him on his face before dragging him out of the operating room after he'd destroyed his hands and Tony's closest chance at getting better; were two more people in the world Stephen was _so very_ grateful for. " I think you need to readjust and reassess, man. Take a _good look_ at things, and _listen._ I'm with Tony on this, _and_ Gin.... Loki. You don't _kick_ the injured, and _especially the innocent_ while they're recovering, _or_ the little guy when they're down and not take up that mantle. Not in earnesty. That's _Hydra._ I am _not_ Hydra, not any more and _never again._ Screw _that;_ and if you aren't that guy any more: I'm sticking with the one guy who _\--yeah, goes about it differently than you, maybe; and a lot--_ but still gets the job done, _still_ has his heart in the _right place_ whether you see it for your differences or not; and _does_ take responsibility for _his end_ of the bullshit, rather than heaping it all on the nearest available target he don't like. "

" I'm staying. " in the same tones, if a slightly different direction while Stephen wiped the wet out of his eyes and away from his face. " And I'll defend my right to that, and the decision however I have to. Even if, that means shooting you Steve. I haven't forgotten that guy either. Or why I followed him. Or, why I signed up for the army myself, _either._ I've got too many debts to pay, and _way too much_ blood in my file _and my memory_ **_not_** to try and clean it up. "

" I think. " in quietly cutting, frigidly cold tones as usual; cut through whatever else might have been said from there. " That's _enough,_ of that; for now. You've all made your point. And the decision, made by both Barnes': is theirs to make. Also.. Buck; there will be _no one_ shot, stabbed, or otherwise physically harmed in _my_ Throne Room _without_ the only rule and circumstance where any of that _\--in self defense--_ is applicable and being met. "

Loki was tapping a finger at his arm rest again, a sign that among other things he was nearly finished with Rogers and the argumentative audience a as whole, as Tony's bed wheeled itself bumper stickers and all across his doorway, a concerned look from the man paralyzed from the mid-chest down as he settled blocking the door with the _**'DAD #2 TIED FOR #1'**_ and **_'SASS MOBILE'_** most visible among the insane amount of stickers Pietro, Wanda and even Loki had helped slap to the sides and back of his motorized medical cart where they could. " Hey. You okay? " only made Stephen chuckle and shake his head.

" Probably never again. " had Stark's eyebrows knitting together in the middle while " And, I have to thank you for that. " evened them out a little and made Tony laugh, if without sound to settle his head back against the colorful red, gold and silver pillow cover Wanda had haphazardly stitched together for him.

He didn't have to say, Stephen knew Stark got it; just looking at that expression. _What,_ he was thanking him _for._ " Hey man, you're pretty much part of the fam now; you _know_ that, _right?_ "

" I ... think that's a _pretty steady answer,_ Steve. Even I can't okay or fight handing _either_ Barnes over to you against their wills. " Natasha, and the look from her in the other camera angle was pretty clearly and for once solidly in support of the King; for a rare change. "You're gonna have to take it. Or, get to a place where they change their minds. And please; while you're stewing? Can you remember that technically? He's also breaking his own rules here, letting someone who's attacked citizens under this roof back in those doors and up that elevator. "

" ..I get it. I'm not _happy_ about it... but, _I get it._ " Sounded like Rogers had finally let some of what was being said to him, register.

Stephen shut off the monitor's volume from there. When even the Queen spoke up in the same direction, given their relationship; the conversation was all but done anyway. As it _should_ have been, a lot sooner.

Stephen was too visibly distracted by the view of the man across the room from him though. He'd seen it before. Long before today. Even before that ranting end of his portion of the conversation had started. " You should probably shut off the hologram; before they start to worry. " from Stephen reminded Stark at a slight start that; his projected self in the Throne Room was stuck on display in that same position he'd muted and paused it on. Tony was pulling his fingers from the manual control leads when Stephen asked. " You .. still wanna play chess with me? " and surprised him a little bit with it.

" ....yeah. " the smile was slow but a warm one. " You offering? " and " You sure..? What about your hands? "

" Yes, _yes.._ " And Stephen stood up, shooing the man and his motorized hospital bed back; away.. down the hall the way he'd come, ignoring the shakes and still pink scars along his digits successfully for the first time in weeks. " I'm sure. " he was halfway down the hall behind him, reading the ' ** _Assholes both good and bad come in all shapes, speeds, sizes and disabilities_** ' sticker along the handle at Tony's feet before he turned the cart around to make it easier, Stephen now very much understanding why the man himself had put it there while out of it: when he finally said himself. " I do wish I could move the pieces myself without knocking over the whole board. But, that doesn't mean my brain's so broken it's forgotten how to play. "

A finger raised along the way above his head, Tony replied. " _Working **parts** man!_ Every other god if there is any, might have given us some shit and taken a sledgehammer to us? But I, am a long ways from giving up on the mess I am; or the _personal god_ what kept me breathing and as _close_ to sane as I can get, _since._ You gonna think about taking him up on that suggestion now, though? Studying with Celt, I mean? "

Looking ahead in the general direction he knew the double doors to Loki's side of the Throne Room was?

Stephen Strange couldn't help but smile.

" Yeah. I think I _will._ Take him up on it. "


End file.
